After Patriots' bitter loss to Dolphins last week, Tom Brady criticized his teammates.

The Patriots long ago clinched the team of the decade title with their three Super Bowl championships that were followed by the first 16-0 regular season in NFL history. But the empire Bill Belichick built in New England is starting to crumble. That tight Patriots family is now showing some dysfunctional tendencies.

New England has lost two in a row for the first time since 2006 and three out of four for the first time since 2002. Even worse, Tom Brady, one of the most respected players in the league, lobbed some harsh criticism at his teammates after last week's loss in Miami. And then Adalius Thomas, one of four players sent home Wednesday by Belichick for being late to a morning meeting, blasted Belichick, basically unprecedented in New England once the grey hoodie turned the program around.

"I can't figure out what Bill thinks or knows," Thomas said in the Pats locker room when he returned Thursday. "I don't know. I promise you I don't. I'm dumbfounded."

Thomas, Randy Moss, Gary Guyton and Derrick Burgess were the four players told to leave. It was snowing in the Foxborough area on Wednesday morning and Thomas says he called ahead to say he would be late. He arrived at 8:09 a.m., nine minutes after the meeting started. He claims he almost had a car accident on the way to work.

"I mean, I could have been in a ditch," Thomas said. "They really don't give a damn, honestly." Then he added that with cars all over the road, he couldn't do anything. "It's not the Jetsons. I can't jump up and fly," he said.

All he could have done was leave for work earlier. It's no secret New England winters are harsh and it tends to snow quite a bit.

Belichick was surely looking to send a strong message to his players heading into the stretch run that they need to get it together. He has had nothing but great things to say about Moss - who was a problem in Minnesota and Oakland - in the three years he's been with the Patriots. So by sending Moss home, too, he got his point across.

Thomas? He was once a prized free agent signing who is in the process of talking his way out of New England. He has fallen out of favor with Belichick. Earlier this year, he was a healthy inactive for one game.

Brady, meanwhile, missed practice Wednesday and Thursday. He is listed with injuries to his right shoulder, a finger on his right hand and ribs (a new injury listed for the first time on Thursday). He was back on the field Friday.

All this dissension is great news for the Jets, who are 6-6, and along with the Dolphins, trail the Patriots by only one game in the AFC East. New England's only victory in the last four came against the Jets in the pre-color coded days for Mark Sanchez when he threw four interceptions and lost a fumble.

Belichick got things moving in the wrong direction on Nov. 15 when he didn't trust his defense in Indianapolis and lost the game by going for it on that now famous fourth-and-2. Belichick received more criticism, including from former players Tedy Bruschi and Rodney Harrison, for that decision than any other on-field choice he's ever made in his coaching career. Of course, nothing will ever come close to the humiliation of SpyGate.

The Patriots have already lost five games, as many as they lost last year playing all but the first game without Brady. The schedule, however, could save the Patriots. They play Carolina at home today, then at Buffalo, Jacksonville at home and finish at Houston. Only the Jags have a winning record.

They are two games behind the Bengals and Chargers for the No. 2 seed, so even if they hold on and win the AFC East, they likely will have to play in the wild-card round. For the first time in the Belichick/Brady era, you sense they are becoming unglued.

After Patriots' bitter loss to Dolphins last week, Tom Brady criticized his teammates.

(Senne/AP)

After losing to the Dolphins last week, Brady uncharacteristically questioned his teammates. "When things don't go your way, you have to fight back," Brady said. "That's a challenge for all of us. I think at times we do. And at times I don't think we fight very hard."

Belichick lost too much leadership on the defense with the retirements of Harrison and Bruschi and the foolish trades of Mike Vrabel (included in the deal with Matt Cassel to the Chiefs) and Richard Seymour. He traded Seymour, who is a free agent next year, right before the season for the Raiders' No. 1 pick in 2011. Even if that turns into a top five pick, Belichick hurt his team this year.

Success runs in cycles in the NFL. Maybe it's the Patriots turn to take a step back.

Shockey on a Super path

Jeremy Shockey broke his leg in the 14th game of the 2007 season and missed the Giants' run to the Super Bowl. The Saints are 12-0, can wrap up a first-round bye today and are on their way to earning the No. 1 seed. That, of course, means the road to the Super Bowl will go through the Superdome, where the Saints are going to be impossible to beat. I asked Shockey this week if he looks at this as an opportunity to make up for what he missed two years ago. "I was part of it," he said. "Unfortunately, I didn't get to play in the game." But is he driven to get there so he can play in the game this time? "To be honest with you, the past is the past," he said. "I wish I had a time machine to go back, but I don't. Obviously, we're in a great situation. It's a great situation for me. I love it here. I plan on retiring here. It's a blessing that Sean (Payton) and (GM) Mickey (Loomis) got me here. I'm just excited to be here. Words can't explain how happy I am to be on this team." Shockey is fourth on the Saints with 44 catches. He has three TDs. … It's not only shocking that the defending Super Bowl champion Steelers have lost five in a row to drop out of the playoff race with a 6-7 record, but they lost to the Chiefs on Nov. 22 and the Raiders and Browns back-to-back in a five-day span. Those are three of the five worst teams in the league. The Steelers don't have to return the Lombardi Trophy, but that is disgraceful.

To dive or not to dive

Mark Sanchez made an instinctive play when he dived headfirst for that first down against the Bills in Toronto. He paid for it with a slight tear to the posterior cruciate ligament when he landed hard on his right knee. Was it a smart play? No. He defied his coach. He's back home in New Jersey today while the Jets are trying to keep their playoff hopes alive in Tampa. The play happened midway through the third quarter with the Jets holding the lead. It was hardly a game-changing moment. You have to pick your spots. If the Jets were on a desperation drive at the end of the game and the only way to pick up the first down was for Sanchez to ignore Rex Ryan, then maybe. But not in the third quarter against a bad team. … Kellen Clemens gets the start in Tampa and is playing for a job next year - whether it's with the Jets or elsewhere. Clemens looked shaky against the Bills, but it's not easy coming off the bench after throwing only one pass all season. He threw only two against Buffalo. He will throw a few more today, but maybe not too many more. The Jets are the No. 1 rushing team (169 yards per game). The Bucs are No. 31 against the run (160 per game).

Going against the Flo

What does Flozell Adams have to do to get suspended? Cheap-shotting Justin Tuck in both Cowboys-Giants games this season wasn't enough? Roger Goodell can keep taking Adams' money, but until he sits him down for a game and lets Adams explain to his teammates why he has let them down, he is not going to get through to this knucklehead. Adams started a bench-clearing melee by sending Tuck to the ground with a push in the back after a missed field goal last week. If Tuck fell on his left shoulder, the one that suffered a partially torn labrum courtesy of Adams tripping him in September, and needed season-ending surgery, would that have gotten Adams suspended? Goodell was at the game last week, and I'm surprised he didn't hand out a more meaningful penalty than a $50,000 fine. Adams has $15 million guaranteed in his contract.

Favre losing his fastball?

Brett Favre had just three interceptions in his first 11 games, but threw two last week in the Vikings' loss to the Cardinals. He has a developed a pattern of running out of gas in December. Has the needle started the drop toward empty after one bad game? Let's see what happens at the Metrodome today against the Bengals. … The pressure is clearly getting to Wade Phillips. He got into a ridiculous debate with a reporter at one of his media sessions last week about whether this group of Cowboys are "winners." Daniel Snyder is going to have competition from Jerry Jones for Mike Shanahan after the season. … The Colts want to stay away from the Chargers in the playoffs. They've lost to them in the postseason two years in a row, once at home and last year in San Diego, each time with Indy having a better record. … Can you imagine the shenanigans Chad Ochocinco will pull if the Bengals get to the Super Bowl and he scores a touchdown? Goodell will fine him enough to feed a small country. … Mike Holmgren could wind up replacing the recently ousted Tim Ruskell as the Seahawks president. When Ruskell was hired in 2005, Holmgren lost his GM powers. He and Ruskell were never on the same page, even though the Seahawks made it to the Super Bowl in Ruskell's first season in Seattle. If Holmgren wants to hire a GM and then make a decision whether to retain Jim Mora as coach, that's fine. But he already showed personnel is not his strength.